Louisville rejects Safeway redevelopment plan

Discussion on controversial proposal goes late into the night

Renderings for Loftus Development's proposed high-end apartments and retail that could replace the vacant Safeway at 707 E. South Boulder Road in Louisville. (The Mulhern Group)

Nearly four months after public hearings began on a controversial proposal to build a luxury apartment complex where a now-vacant Safeway store operated for 30 years, Louisville City Council rejected it late Tuesday night.

The council appeared split for most of the evening between voting down the five-building, mixed-use project outright or sending it back to the planning commission for further review. In the end, the council voted 4-3 against remanding it to the commission and then voted unanimously to reject it.

Jim Loftus, a Boulder developer who has built numerous projects in the state and brought forward a 195-unit high-end apartment complex plan for the Safeway site earlier this year, said Tuesday's vote was a first for him.

"That's the first time I've been rejected for a project," he said.

He said he wouldn't spend any more time or money on his blueprints for the 5-acre site and would be contacting Safeway in the next few days regarding what he planned to do with his interest in the property.

"You have to absorb it all," said Loftus.

Tuesday's vote brought to a close a protracted process that spanned four months of public hearings, involving three heavily attended meetings each in front of the Louisville Planning Commission and Louisville City Council.

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The planning Commission recommended denial of the proposal in March, calling it overly dense and incompatible with the surrounding neighborhoods.

At the time, the commission was considering a scaled back project with 180 rental units and 10,000 square feet of retail space at the corner of South Boulder Road and Centennial Drive. Loftus reduced his project to 160 residential units and 9,500 square feet of retail last month. He said he was able to do so because Safeway was willing to drop its asking price for its 55,000-square-foot building.

Councilwoman Susan Loo said she generally liked what was being proposed but said it would be valuable to have the “kinks” in the plans worked out at the planning commission level before tackling it once again.

“This proposal that we're currently seeing is not the proposal the planning commission saw,” she said.

Mayor Pro Tem Hank Dalton echoed Loo's position, warning those in attendance that if Loftus' plans were rejected, what might follow could be far worse. He said the Safeway building, which has sat empty for more than two years, was becoming a trouble spot for Louisville and its reputation.

“It weighs on the community and has become symbolic in not a good way,” Dalton said.

But several other members on council said the project wasn't right for Louisville and that not enough had changed in the plans since they were first pitched earlier this year.

“The scale of this particular project is just too great in size and impact,” Councilwoman Frost Yarnell said. “I don't see this project fitting in with the community vision.”

Mayor Bob Muckle said the city needed more time to seek opportunities to “find revenue-generating projects” in the form of retail at the site rather than approving a mostly residential project. And he said he simply couldn't vote counter to what most of the neighbors had expressed about the size and look of Loftus' project.

“It's very difficult for me to make a decision that this is compatible with the neighborhood when the neighborhood feels so strongly that that's not true,” he said.

In perhaps the most vivid testament to the contentiousness of the debate, Councilwoman Emily Jasiak said the issue had consumed her thoughts even in the final weeks of her pregnancy.

“I'm due to have a baby in four days and this has been what's on my mind,” said Jasiak, who represents the ward where the Safeway stands.

The project's architect, Mike Mulhern, said there was a “limited window” to getting a project like this done in terms of lenders emerging from a down economy and being willing to finance new developments.

And he said the project is mostly residential because that's what the financial numbers support. He said the residences would be targeted at young professionals, empty-nesters, and active seniors.

“We wanted enough retail to create an active gathering space, but we didn't want to compete with all these great restaurants, bars and shops just three blocks away (in downtown Louisville),” he said.

Residents once again spoke out against and in favor of the project, though City Council chambers were not as packed Tuesday as they had been during past meetings on the topic.

Devona Sayler, who lives near the Safeway site, urged the council to reject the project once and for all.

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